Harm reduction vs.
“Replacing one drug with another.”

Medication AssistedTreatment is an additional method of addiction treatment that uses certain specific medications that influence the brain’s reward system and help reduce craving and relapse risk. These medications include naltrexone (also, Vivitrol) and buprenorphine (also, Suboxone and Sublocade).

Medication Assisted Treatment has been shown to be overwhelmingly successful in preventing overdose deaths, reducing drug-related crimes and reducing secondary harms like tissue infections at injection sites and HIV / AIDS . MAT is one more tool in the toolbox, along with inpatient and outpatient treatment, therapy, and support groups that can help mitigate the effects of addiction and improve quality of life.

Those who believe in “complete abstinence only” may hold a negative view of medications like methadone to treat opiate addiction, contending that the addicted person is just replacing one substance with another. However, some people have found that a gradual process of tapering using MAT helps to achieve complete abstinence, while others argue that even with extended treatment using MAT the overall health outcomes are greatly improved.